Mail delivery to be cut on SaturdaysStamp prices to shoot upMailmen to be replaced by robots*
*I get mixed up sometimes between what happens in my dreams and what I read. Bear with me.
Imagine for a moment that we are discussing any normal business, look at the facts:
- $13 billion in debt this year
- Projected $238 billion deficit by 2020
- 36,500 retail locations (Double McDonald's, triple Starbuck's)
- 15% projected drop in demand within the next decade
Any decisions regarding the beloved USPS has to go before the business geniuses in Congress and no lawmaker is going to be leading the charge to take down Big Mail. But really, who should we turn to when questions arise in regards to the Postal Service? If only there was someone who's entire job was to oversee the operations of this civic institution. Oh, wait, let's throw it to Postmaster General John Potter as quoted in a piece from BusinessWeek:
Lifestyles and ways of doing business have changed dramatically in the last 40 years, but some of the laws that govern the Postal Service have not. These laws need to be modernized to reflect today’s economic and business challenges and the dramatic impact the Internet has had on American life.
Forty years? Name one other area of life which hasn't changed in forty years.
(Thinking...thinking...thinking)
My list: Candy corn, Regis Philbin, the crisis in the Middle East, George Will's opinions
Strikingly absent from the list are any businesses. Our society changes too fast, too often for any sort of service to remain stuck in its ways for this long. The most commonly discussed first step for USPS is to cut out Saturday delivery. As I heard some pundits discuss this, you might as well have suggested that we replace the torch in Lady Liberty's hand with an iPod or something.
How dare you suggest doing anything to the Postal Service? It is the government's duty to provide work options for those who need it. There are well over half a million US Americans who toil day after day in jobs for the USPS. You, sir, are an unpatriotic boob!
This fictional argument sets up what the real problem is. Any government institution, and more so with the biggest government institutions, is hindered by its circumstances. When it comes to employment, USPS is expected to maintain a constant level. If they hire more people, they are looked upon to always keep these jobs. Any firings come across as a terrible injustice. No other company is held to these kind of standards. Businesses need to be able to contract and expand with the decrease and increase of demand. The demand for mail services is clearly dropping. How can the USPS not cut jobs? That there is even a debate on this topic is a frightening display.
The USPS debate plays out just like the current newspaper debacle. Both of these models succeeded years ago. Both of these models failed to notice a changing social dynamic. Both of these models ignored the influence of the internet. Now both of these models are under siege and both are being defended by only an aging segment of society. No one reading this right now uses the post office on a regular basis. No one reading this right now would be affected in a meaningful way if they lost Saturday delivery.
Honestly, I wouldn't mind if the most drastic of cuts (Mail delivery down to a three day schedule) was put into place. My immediate concern when I heard of this idea? I will have to plan out my Netflix schedule more strictly. Not a huge problem. But we will not see any of these changes, which need to take place before the USPS starts to hemorrhage an insurmountable amount of money, because old people (Read: those who vote) are stuck in the days of relationships with mailmen, handwritten letters, licked envelopes and memories of the Pony Express. To this vocal minority, the Postal Service is a memento from better days, days which they will fight to remember.
Now if you don't mind, I must go marvel at the properties of electronic mail.
GRM
